The Library of Congress announced today its acquisition of the Prelinger
Collection, containing more than 48,000 historical "ephemeral" motion
pictures, from its owner, Prelinger Archives of San Francisco.
The Prelinger Collection brings together a wide variety of American
ephemeral motion pictures -- advertising, educational, industrial, amateur,
and documentary films depicting everyday life, culture, and industry in
America throughout the 20th century. Although images from the collection
have been used in thousands of films, television programs and other
productions throughout the last 20 years, the films themselves have not
generally been available to researchers and the general public.
"This comprehensive collection provides a unique window into the world of
20th century American ideas and lifestyles," said Librarian of Congress
James H. Billington. "The picture it gives is quite distinct from that
found in Hollywood feature films and newsreels. These are the films that
children watched in the classroom, that workers viewed in their union
halls, that advertisers presented in corporate boardrooms, and that
homemakers saw at women's club meetings."
"The Library's acquisition of our collection will ensure its long-term
preservation and render it accessible to future generations. I'm thrilled
that this cultural and social resource is becoming part of the world's
greatest treasury of recorded human knowledge," said Rick Prelinger,
president of Prelinger Archives.
Because of the size of the Prelinger Collection (more than 140,000
individual cans of film) and the numerous complexities involved in its
processing, it will take several years before the Library will be in a
position to provide access to these films -- after the completion of a new
motion picture storage and preservation facility in Culpeper, Va.
However, Prelinger Archives will continue to offer access to the
collection through two primary channels. Those wishing to access films for
research, pleasure or reuse may view and download 1,500 key titles without
charge through the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/movies), while
those in search of stock footage for production may acquire it through
Prelinger's authorized representative, Getty Images
(http://www.gettyimages.com). Detailed information regarding access to the
Prelinger Collection may be found at http://www.prelinger.com.
The Library of Congress contains the largest collections of film and
television in the world, from the earliest surviving copyrighted motion
picture to the latest feature releases. Many of the films in the Prelinger
Collection, however, were never submitted for copyright or were produced
during the decades when film prints were not acquired by the Library as
part of the copyright registration process. This was due to safety
concerns about the storage of film prints produced on the highly flammable
film nitrate stock used by the motion picture industry prior to 1951.
Ephemeral films vividly document the look and feel of times past and are
unparalleled records of cultural and social history. The Prelinger
Collection contains significant holdings in many areas, including hundreds
of films on social guidance and etiquette; thousands of industrial films
picturing automobile design and manufacturing, communications, technology,
and engineering; over 250 hours of amateur films and home movies shot by
ordinary Americans to document their lives, their homes, and their travels;
films on vanished cultural and social landscapes; films on art, literature,
science and every other field of education; and many thousands of films
produced by regional production companies in all parts of the United States.
Approximately 40% of the collection consists of unique master materials,
and a significant portion of the remainder is not held by any other
archives. Two titles in the collection, "Master Hands" (1936) and "The
House in the Middle" (1954), were recently named by the Librarian of
Congress to the National Film Registry of culturally and historically
significant films.